Oil's strong grip on the Mexican national psyche frustrates a policy-focused discussion on energy at a time when the country's oil production is declining precipitously, when federal spending remains largely dependent on oil revenues, and when the government oil monopoly is unable to exploit deep-water reserves, speakers Rossana Fuentes-Berain and Duncan Wood said at the book launch of Pozo de Pasiones: the Oil Reform Debate in Mexico, jointly published by the Wilson Center's Mexico Institute and the Red Mexicana de Energia (Mexican Network on Energy).

Sergio Aguayo, professor at El Colegio de México, said Mexico's politics are in "turmoil" because of sharpening income inequality, a fragmentation of political power not accompanied by the emergence of robust civil society, and the institution-destabilizing violence of organized crime.

The "New Research on U.S.-Mexico Relations: Dispute Settlement and Expatriate Voting Patterns" seminar featured presentations by Arturo Sotomayor and Víctor Espinoza Valle, Woodrow Wilson Center-Mexican Council on Foreign Relations (Comexi) Public Policy Scholars in residence at the Wilson Center.

During the "Politics of Mexican-Origin Leaders: Implications for 2008 & Beyond" conference, participants such as David R. Ayón, Allert Brown-Gort, and Manuel García y Griego gathered to discuss preliminary conclusions from a binational research project that examines dominant political action strategies among Mexican-origin leaders in the United States.

Experts in US-Mexico relations from both sides of the border, including Michael Barone, Rossana Fuentes-Berain, Jim Jones, Crescencio Arcos, Andrés Rozental and others will discuss how the U.S. elections will affect the U.S.-Mexico relationship.

Join Ana Laura Magaloni of CIDE, Miguel Treviño of Reforma and other leading experts in justice reform in Mexico to discuss the new constitutional reforms passed in Mexico and their future implications.

The Mexico Institute, the Inter-American Dialogue and George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs welcomed Luis Rubio, President of the Centro de Investigación para el Desarrollo en México, to discuss the current political and economic environment in Mexico